Interdict (2 page)

As he drew close enough for a detailed examination, he noted that the falling object was a ship. Apparently, it had run afoul of their defensive satellites and was surrendering damaged parts with every second.

When the pilot jumped out, Garo was shocked. It seemed that the being was similar to Draikyn on the exterior, but the streaming cascade of rich blonde hair was not one he had ever seen on a woman of his kind.

He examined her as she fell. Her eyes closed and face pale. An image of her features on a pillow next to his flashed in his mind and he shook his head.

Garo realized that his daydreaming had brought them dangerously close to the ground and he surged toward her, shifting into a more manoeuvrable form as he approached. He took on his bipedal form, his wings belling out as he slowed his descent while taking the woman into his arms.

Her scent hardened his cock and he stared at his unconscious burden in shock. She was alien, that was certain, but she was also the woman in his dreams and that was a huge problem. If the interdict was enforced, his little falling star would be dead before she woke.

* * * *

The hangovers incurred just after high school were nothing compared to the pain in her head when she woke after the rip through time.

A voice speaking formal Drai came to her. "Who are you and where are you from?"

She smiled and rehearsed her speech. "I am a Terran, a new species being considered by the Alliance. I was stuck in the comet's tail and it dragged me to your atmosphere. The orbital defence system made quick work of my shields."

"You speak Drai?" That surprised the speaker more than any of the sentences.

"Yes. It was an option to study languages and my people had so many myths and legends about dragons that it seemed the most sensible course of study."

"Your people know about dragons?" The voice was coming from a speaker in the wall.

"Yes, but just enough myth to make the idea of an entire language kinda fun. Where am I?"

"You are in a holding facility in the Drai capitol of Nev. One of our patrols found you and he saved your life. He requested that you at least be questioned before the sentencing begins."

She closed her eyes. This hadn't been in her notes either. It seemed she was shifty when it came to dealing with herself. "Sentencing?"

"Drai is an interdicted world. No aliens arrive or leave. You landed illegally."

"I didn't land, I crashed. My ship dropped through a hole in space and then fell apart. I remember something huge coming at me and then nothing."

The voice laughed. "That huge thing was Wing Leader Garo Weelich. He caught you and brought you here for examination and treatment."

"And sentencing."

There was a distinct pause. "Yes, but his primary concern was for your health and safety."

"Does that change when I am sentenced?"

The woman paused again. "I…I don't know."

At least she was honest.

Whoever had checked her over had dressed her in a long tunic slashed up the sides and loose trousers underneath. Her feet were bare, but the tiles on the floor were not excessively cool. Cynthia looked around her and took in the sparse cell. Her bed was a narrow but comfortable bunk and there was a small table with two chairs, the narrow back indicative of the Draikyn wing accommodation.

"When will I be questioned?" She raised her hands to her hair and tried to finger comb it into a less-wild mass. The blonde strands fought her, but she kept working until she had a loose braid to keep it out of her face.

"Wing Leader Garo is on his way with a councillor. They will question you in detail and then present their findings to the Council."

"When they arrive, can I get something to eat or drink? It was a long flight." She chuckled at her lack of exaggeration. Over a thousand years in a matter of minutes.

Time didn't just fly, it ripped open and dumped her exactly where she was supposed to be.

Convincing Garo might be the hardest part of her entire journey.

Chapter Three

Garo walked down the hall with Councillor Hael. His fallen alien was awake and speaking with the matron. She spoke high Drai, which was odd enough, but her knowledge of their traditions was the most puzzling part.

As far as Garo was aware, no contact with the Alliance had been made in the last five hundred years, so her education was even more of a mystery.

The cells were mostly unoccupied. Based on their scans, the woman did not require a guard. She didn't seem to have any additional talents or abilities that they could detect.

"What does she look like?" The Councillor's voice was low and calm, one of the reasons that Garo was glad he had been chosen for this investigation.

"She seems similar in looks to a Drai woman. A little smaller and paler than a Drai but very similar." He didn't add that he had been seeing her in his dreams. It would be too shocking for the councillor to know that a Drai shifter had the misfortune to see an alien as a mate. There were few-enough males with the transforming genome left.

They stopped in front of the cell containing the topic of their discussion. Without a comment, Garo palmed the lock open and the door swung wide.

* * * *

Cynthia sat at the table sipping at the tea that had been provided for her. Her time acclimating herself to the Drai palate had been well spent. She was able to sip at the bitter tea without making a face, grateful for the acids and caffeine.

As the door opened, she watched the two winged males enter her cell and the spacious quarters got a lot smaller. "Good afternoon, gentlemen."

She stood and inclined her upper torso before resuming her seat and her cup of tea.

"Miss, we have a few questions to ask you." The male who wasn't Garo was polite, but there was a familiar set to his head.

"Please. I would offer both of you a seat, but I only have one." She gestured to the other chair.

The male who had spoken smiled and took the chair. Garo was busy glaring at her with a mixture of emotions, but his companion was watching her every move with an analytical eye.

"Miss, why are you here?" The male with the dark hair and dark eyes folded his hands on the table in front of him.

"I crashed here. A comet swept me from the Saru system and it dropped me here. My ship was badly damaged and falling apart as I entered your atmosphere."

"Are you aware that this is an interdicted world? We do not allow aliens to land on our surface. The penalty for landing on our surface is death or imprisonment."

She blinked. "All right."

He looked surprised. "You don't want to beg for your life?"

She sighed deeply and rubbed the back of her neck. "What good will it do? I am on your world where no alien is supposed to be. I can speak Drai, a feat that few aliens ever bother to master. I have knowledge of your castes and the general organization of your government and there is only one thing for me to offer to keep myself alive and free."

Garo leaned forward slightly, his massive arms crossed over his impressive chest.

The other male smiled and leaned back in his chair. "What could you offer in your defence?"

She smiled. "Well, there is one thing that the laws of your world have not yet considered."

"What is that?"

"I never landed here. When my feet first touched the ground it was after I had been placed in this cell. By my own will, I have not entered Drai space or touched on Drai soil."

The male looked at her and started to laugh.

Garo's lips twitched and a grin eventually replaced his stoic frown.

"That is an excellent point. I will pass your argument on to the Council. They will rule in the morning. Wing Leader, I will meet you outside." The man got to his feet and left them alone.

Cynthia looked into the dark gold eyes of the dragon she had been dreaming about for years. He stared into hers and she wondered what he saw in her green orbs. When he spoke, she fought the quiver of awareness that ran through her.

"Who are you and why are you here?"

There was desperation to his words that tore at her heart.

She got to her feet and approached him slowly. With one hand, she reached up and cupped his jaw. "I am Cynthia Norman of Terra and I am here because I dreamed of you."

He flinched at her touch, his arms moving to stay straight at his sides and when she spoke, his hands curled into fists. With no more words between them, he turned and left her in her cell.

Closing her eyes against the ache in her soul, she returned to her chair and slowly sipped at her tea. Tomorrow was too far away to worry about and today would never end.

* * * *

Garo endured another night with his family until he could not take the enforced merriment anymore. He stalked out onto the deck and stared into the night sky.

Her words echoed in his head.
I dreamed of you.

How could she know the Drai words that indicated a true match of souls?
No one outside of their world was privy to the social customs and the psychic connection that was formed between mates. But, she
did
know. She had looked at him with the same recognition that he had felt when she was in his arms that first time.

Garo gripped the railing of the deck and dug his claws into the stone.
How can I let my mate go to sentencing tomorrow?
It was ridiculous to think that she was his destiny, but he couldn't watch her eyes when they doomed her to life in a prison.

Councillor Hael was going to make the best report he could, but unless there was some kind of a psychic shift in the council, Cynthia was doomed to death or imprisonment.

"What is it, Garo?"

He tilted his head and watched his mother approach. For all her nagging ways, she had a sixth sense when it came to her children. Corleen Weelich was still an attractive woman, a miracle after her four children had done their best to wear her nerves while they were growing up.

"An incident yesterday has caused me unease."

Corleen stood next to him and stared out at the stars, her profile clean and solemn. "The alien woman?"

"Yes."

"Why are you so concerned about her? She will simply be sentenced and the council will dispose of her as they choose."

He sighed, rubbing his forehead.

His mother stared at him as dawning surprise ran through her. "You dreamed of her, didn't you?"

"I did. And do you know what is worse?"

"What?"

"She dreamed of me."

Corleen nodded. Her surprise turned into a stubborn set of her chin that her entire family recognized.

Garo could almost see the thoughts flitting through her mind and he knew the moment that she made a decision.

"Well, if the only way you are going to get a mate is via a stranger to our world, I suppose it is in my best interest to make sure that she makes it out of her sentencing alive."

Garo looked to his diminutive mother and smiled. "What are you going to do, Mama?"

She reached up and patted his cheek. "It is better that you don't know, Garo. Consider it a surprise. Don't worry. It will turn out all right, or I will take the councillors on one at a time."

Looking down into his mother's eyes, he had a sense that she would rip out the throats of anyone who stood between her and the possibility of a grandchild. Suddenly, he felt two things, optimism for the outcome of the hearing and pity for any of the councillors who stood in her way.

Chapter Four

Cynthia stood in front of the curious councillors. They had asked her for details on her landing, the comet and the chunks of her shuttle that had burned up on entry into the Drai atmosphere.

"I really don't know. I am not a mechanic or an engineer. I received the shuttle while on assignment and it got maintenance at space stations whenever necessary. I just got in and flew." She shrugged apologetically.

A female councillor gave her a penetrating glare. "What did you do for the Alliance?"

Cynthia smiled and told the truth. "I was a student. I learned lost and forgotten cultures and languages, yours included."

"They allowed you to simply travel and to learn?"

She nodded. "I was given free rein to learn what I could. There are not a lot of my kind out and around in the Alliance or anywhere else for that matter. I had a talent for learning and a lot of potential, so they allowed me to use my mind to store bits and pieces of a dozen worlds."

The woman tapped her nails on the table restlessly. "Including ours?"

"Yes, and the Admaryn, the Avari and several other races who have faded from the known worlds." Cynthia didn't name them. The other races were not locked in their own worlds yet. It was not their time.

"Councillor Hael has passed on your point that not only did you not intend to land on Drai but that you never did actually land." The head of the council steepled his fingers in front of him.

She hid the jump of surprise at the mention of the last name of Hael. Livin's birth name was Hael and what were the odds that this man was related to her granddaughter?

"That is correct. I fell out of my crumbling ship, into the sky and my feet didn't touch the ground until I woke in the cell. I am a little fuzzy on the comet's intervention in my path, as well as the damage to my ship via your satellites, but waking up occurred in the cell."

The councillors nodded and murmured amongst themselves.

A woman broke free of the gallery and she wove her way gracefully to stand beside Cynthia. "Councillors, I would tender an option to imprisonment."

The head councillor nodded, "We will hear you, Corleen Weelich."

"I will take this woman into my house and my custody. She will be able to learn details of Drai life while she earns her keep. I will promise to keep the council apprised of anything that I learn regarding her origins and she will be offered the same freedoms as a Drai citizen."

That last comment caused a stir in the watchers and in the councillors.

The head of the council shook his head. "She cannot be a citizen, but we will agree to a probationary period. She will be given into your charge and in three months, a full report as to her activities and learning aptitude will be required. This is serious, Corleen. We can't have an alien woman with dubious morals running amok in our city."